


we never knew

by tozierflowers



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Eddie - Freeform, F/M, M/M, Reddie, Richie - Freeform, bev marsh, club, losers - Freeform, losersclub
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-17 00:30:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14821812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tozierflowers/pseuds/tozierflowers





	1. Chapter 1

Richie hadn’t shown up to school for almost a week now and Eddie could feel the worry pulsating through his veins. A week. Sure, Richie had skipped his fair amount of school but never more than two days. And definitely never without calling Eddie the night before or at least before school in the morning. No one had even heard from Richie for a few days now. During gym, Stan kept on joking around about how quiet every class without Richie seemed and Eddie laughed while trying to keep up appearances. No one really knew that Eddie had liked Richie since the first day of fifth grade. Six years later and that hadn’t diminished. Sometimes Eddie thought that maybe, just maybe, Richie also liked him. But Richie couldn’t hold eye contact with him for more than ten seconds before coming up with some stupid joke with a dumb voice. Richie was such a tough nut to crack and the only loser who had cracked him was Bev. Richie told Bev absolutely everything and Bev always made sure to never slip up and tell anyone. That frustrated Eddie so much because he’d known him so much longer than Bev yet somehow, he wasn’t trusted.   
During gym, Eddie noticed that Bev wasn’t around, so he checked the girls side of the field quickly before running back with the rest of the boys. He looked around and walked to the side of the field where the bleachers stood. And then he could smell smoke. Cigarette smoke. He thought to himself, is that the same smell of cigarettes that Richie always smells like, and evidently, it was. He ran towards the bleachers and slid under the first row, “RICHIE HERE YOU ARE WH- “. Beverly jumped up and pulled Eddie down to the floor, “shut up eddie oh my god you’re gonna blow my cover. I don’t want to do laps today so shush”. Eddie tried to understand how he’d gotten pulled down to the floor so quickly and then looked at Bev with tears in his eyes and said “Wait, so that was you? The smoke? Doesn’t Richie smoke those?”. Bev let her tense shoulders relax and drop down when she saw the tear streaming down Eddie’s cheek. Without saying anything, she leaned over to her backpack where she took out a pack of cigarettes out that had a messy “Richie” written over the top. She looked at Eddie and quietly said, “I buy them for him, I know I shouldn’t be fueling his want for smoking but, you know, his parents.”. Eddie had his arms around his knees and was trying his best not to cry as he looked at the pack in Bev’s hand and said, “Have you? Heard from Richie, I mean. Has he called you.”. Bev tilted her head a bit and put her hand on his shoulder, “No? I would have expected for him to have called you before calling me though. But yeah, no.”. She noticed that Eddie kept on trying to say something, but he’d stop before saying anything. Bev let him sit in silence for a good ten minutes before trying to say anything, “hey eddie, do you wanna just leave, it’s seventh period anyways. we can go to my car and talk or just go somewhere. does that sound alright with you?”. Eddie nodded his head and followed Bev out the back of the bleachers into the parking lot. Bev walked quickly to her car and Eddie slowly followed along. Bev got into her car and tossed her backpack to the backseat. Eddie got in and put his backpack on his lap and hugged it. “Hey Eddie. Eddie. Are you okay? Please I know you’ve had episodes before please tell me if this is one. I’ll take you to my apartment and you can sleep it off. Do you need to talk? I’m here if you need to talk. Sorry I’ll stop talking now.”. Eddie slowly turned his head to look at her and the tears started streaming down his cheeks. Bev pulled down the sleeve of her sweater and wiped his tears away. He tried to talk but started coughing so she held his hand. “Bev. Bevvvvv. Bev. BEV. Alright, I’m. I’m sick.”. Her eyes widened, and she squeezed his hand, “sick? how? I’ll take you to a doctor. eddie.”. He let out a quiet giggle and said “Nope. Not sick like that. Shit. Fine. I like Richie. And that’s what makes me sick. He’s my best friend and he obviously likes you and not me and that’s perfectly fine because you’re a great and pretty girl but wait no i don’t mean it like that I’m gay i just think you’re perfect for him and I’m not and I’m so sorry its okay if you don’t want to talk to me ever again.”. Bev fidgeted with the key hanging from her necklace and then looked at Eddie and put her hands on both sides of his face, “Eddie. I love you so much. You know that, right? So much. I think you should tell Richie. I know for a fact he doesn’t like me. And he loves that I’m dating Ben. And he loves you so much and I really do think you should tell him. He would never stop talking to you. And I will definitely never stop talking to you.”. Eddie let his head drop onto her shoulders and let out a choked sob as she ruffled his hair, trying to soothe him as a mother would. He looks up at her, with tears burning his eyes, and lets out a small laugh “well, I’d tell him if i could, i don’t know, find him.”. Bev sat upright and put her hands on the steering wheel as she turned to look at him while trying to back out of her parking spot, “Alright, so let’s do just that. Time to find the mysterious Richie Tozier.”.  
Thirty minutes later, Bev turns to Eddie and sees him fiddling around with his phone, “Hey, wait, have you even tried calling him yet?”. Eddie laughed and shook his head, “It’s like an unspoken agreement that he calls me first whenever he goes away.”. Bev whipped her neck to the side to look at Eddie, “Well, shit, that’s stupid. Call him. Let me park over here on the side and call him. Matter of fact start dialing his number now.”. Eddie unlocked his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found Richie’s. Bev parked on the side of the road as his phone rang and rang. By the sixth ring, Eddie turned off his phone and let out a weird groanish scream. Bev grabbed his phone and unlocked it (the password was dumbly “chee”) and scrolled through Eddie’s contacts until she found Richie and pressed the “Locate Friends” button. Richie’s contact picture popped up on the map, at a coffee shop five miles ahead. She slammed her foot on the gas pedal and jolted Eddie up. “Alright he’s at Amelie’s Records, the coffee shop down the road. Do you have money? I’ll give you money to buy a coffee if you want to drink one while talking to him.”. Eddie just shook his head and pointed to his fanny pack by his belt. Around ten minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot for the shop and Bev couldn’t stop smiling at Eddie. He looked around the car, looking for a reason to not go in, but he couldn’t find anything so he ended up getting out of the car. Bev rolled down her window, “alright you’ve got this kaspbrack, i love you.”. He gave her a thumbs up as he walked up to the store.


	2. Chapter 2

When he walked in, the little bell on the door rang so the owner, probably Amelie, waved at him and welcomed him. He knew that Richie would probably have made fun of that, for some reason. He wandered around the store, not really trying to find Richie. He glanced over the tables and couldn’t find him, so he decided to head to the back and try to look around the records section. He started looking in the pop section and slowly progressed towards the more alternative section, when he heard a boy arguing with someone else, so he walked closer until he heard someone yelling, “NO NO NO, see you’ve got it WRONG. Their best album is OBVIOUSLY i love you. Fuck outta here with that Wiped Out shit. I love you is where its at. Anyways, nice debate. See you tomorrow Cal.”. Eddie felt his heart drop once he recognized the voice and heard footsteps coming in his direction. As he tried ducking under a bookshelf, he heard the footsteps stop right in front of him. He looked up, and there he was, Richie Tozier. He stood up and Richie greeted him as if nothing had happened, “Eds! How are you? Did you hear how I DEMOLISHED that guy with my whole debate?”. Eddie straightened out his back, so he was as tall as Richie’s chin. He looked up and made eye contact with him, “I’m sorry, what? “Hey, Eds”? No, NO. You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to disappear and not call me for almost a week. You don’t get to control my feelings. You don’t get to play with any of my emotions. So instead of acting like nothing happened, explain to me why you left for no reason without telling anyone, for almost a week. Or I’m out of here.”. Eddie hated getting mad at Richie and hated making him explain himself, so he immediately backed down and stepped away from him. Richie just stared at him and adjusted the backpack straps over his shoulders, “Damn, I’m sorry Eds- I mean Eddie. I just had to leave for a few days. I had a, uhm, a mishap at home. But its okay. I’m sorry. I meant to call but my phone died last night before I got to call you.”. Eddie instantly felt bad for having ganged up on him. A mishap at home. A mishap at the Tozier household always meant Richie getting in trouble, and this time it seemed like he got kicked out. Eddie started to breathe shallow breaths and tried to apologize but Richie put his arm over his shoulders and interrupted him, “hey Eds, its okay. I’m okay. and you’re okay. i should be the sorry one.”. Richie led him over to the coffee shop and ordered two coffees. Eddie sat down at the table near the corner as Richie brought over the coffees. They both silently put sugar in their coffees and stirred them until the silence became unbearable and Eddie spoke up, “Hey, Richie, why did you get kicked out? More importantly, why didn’t you tell me? You could’ve stayed with me. Or Bev.”. Richie laughed and took a sip of his coffee, “Oh no I definitely couldn’t have stayed with you eds. Not if I ever wanted to come back home.”. Eddie choked on his coffee, as what Richie had said had so many different possible meanings. Richie saw Eddies reaction and started waving his hands around as if it to correct himself, “No no no, its nothing bad. It just would have pissed off my parents more if they would have found out I went over to a friend’s house, as they think this is an acceptable form of punishment. And no one has fun while being punished, well, maybe some people.”. Richie winked, and Eddie groaned but didn’t know what else to say but remembered why he came here in the first place, “Hey Richie, hm, can I tell you something?”. Richie stared at Eddie and slowly nodded his head yes. Eddie coughed as if to clear his throat, “Yeah. Okay. I. Okay. Alright. I like you. I’m sorry.”. Richie didn’t react at all and just said, “Well of course you do, we’re friends. Friends always like each other.”. Eddie put down his coffee and looked at him with a blank stare, “No Richie. I like you. Like, I like you. As more than a friend. As more than a best friend.”. Richie smiled and seemed amused, which bothered Eddie, “Alright, how long have you liked me for.”. Eddie gulped and looked away as he whispered, “fifth grade”. Richie almost fell out of his chair and Eddie scrambled to get him back up. “Six years? You’ve liked me for six years? And you never told me? Alright.”. Eddie felt slightly offended by that, so he refuted it, “Well, you never even noticed so I mean.”. Richie laughed and called Eddie stupid, making him even more angry. Eddie stood up and stormed off to Bev’s car. Richie ran out after him and caught up to him easily and grabbed Eddie’s hand. “LET GO OF ME RICHIE.”. Richie took a step back but didn’t let go of his arm. Eddie tried wriggling his way out of Richie’s grip “Richie this isn’t funny. Alright, I know you have like zero emotions, but guess what? I have too many emotions. And you set them ALL off in there.”. Richie let go of his arm but placed both his hands on Eddie’s shoulders, “Alright, you wanna know why I got kicked out? Because I came out to my parents. You wanna know why I didn’t wanna bother you? I didn’t wanna drag you into my parents’ homophobia.”. Eddie softened his posture and looked at Richie’s hands on his shoulders, “Why would that have dragged me into your parents’ homophobia? What does this have to do with me- “. Richie suddenly leaned down and kissed Eddie without any warning. It was a quick kiss. At least it was for Richie. It felt like a million years for Eddie. Richie pulled away and let go of Eddie completely, “THAT’S WHY. DUMBASS”. Eddie stood there, dumbfounded, and had to slowly sit down on the floor. Richie threw his hands up and put them behind his head as he turned around, and saw Bev pressed against her car window, with a huge smile plastered on her face. Richie’s face reddened as she rolled down the window, “WOOH LETS GO TOZIER FINALLY KISSED THE BOY.”. Eddie felt his whole body heat up as he heard Bev giggling and Richie just manically laughing. He stood up and grabbed Richie’s hand, “Can we finally?”. Richie stared at Eddie for a few seconds, without breaking eye contact, “Date? Fuck yes.”


End file.
